The Charles Sturt Hotel in East Street Narrandera was formerly the Cricketers’ Arms Hotel and Commercial Hotel.

A weatherboard hotel was built on this site in around 1880, with Grosvenor Flood as the first licensee. At the rear of the hotel were stables and a large hall which was used for entertainment and meetings, and later for roller skating.

The Cricketers’ Arms license transferred to Henry Symes in 1885, then to George Rogers in 1887.

From 1895, the hotel appears to have had no licensee until 1899, when Thomas Johnson became the licensee. Mr Johnson renamed the premises as the ‘Commercial Hotel’, which was previously the name of an earlier hotel in Larmer Street.

Mr Johnson sold the business to Joseph Leek in 1905. The next two licensees died while operating the business, then Mr Silas Adams purchased the hotel in 1911.

Mr Adams had grand plans for the hotel and in 1913, he instructed Sydney architect, Mr L S Robertson, to design a new hotel building for the corner site.

Tenders were called in June 1913, with McFadyen and Beard selected as the contractors. The old timber hotel was demolished in October 1913 and work commenced immediately on erecting the new building.

The new hotel, completed by October 1914, was a two story brick building featuring wide verandahs to each level, supported by timber posts with cast iron balustrades and three shops facing East Street. The stables and hall at the rear remained for public use.

Major renovations began in 1958, when the building was ‘modernised’ with the removal of the Federation style verandahs and replacing with a cantilevered awning, changing the windows, simplifying the parapet and rendering the brickwork.

Once the work was completed, the hotel was renamed the ‘Charles Sturt Hotel’ in September 1959 and has traded under that name ever since.